Feroz Bakht Ahmed/ New Delhi

The name of NSA Ajit Doval sends shivers down in the spine of enemy camps – be it Pakistan or China. India’s National Security Advisor is thus the most trusted and top-ranking name in the security scenarios in the US, Russia, Britain, China, and France. Doval is a bit too special for Pakistan and it’s not without reasons. With Doval at the helm of India’s security scenario, India has inflicted heavy losses on Pakistan during the last three decades. Two surgical strikes carried out against Pakistan are the highlights of this period. Doval has left a mark while dealing with the enemies within the country and the foreign forces, especially in Pakistan. Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ajit Doval works 20-22 hours a day and it’s for this reason that he is called a go-getter.

India and Pakistan have agreed to fully abide by the 2003 ceasefire agreement to restore peace on the border. This week, talks between the Director-General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries were held and conducted on the hotline. It was followed by a joint statement issued in new Delhi and Islamabad. It’s clear that the NSA Ajit Doval has played an important role in facilitating these talks. He had been in touch with the Pakistan government and the Army through the back channels for months.

According to media reports, Doval’s efforts helped in the thaw that came after a long and deep freeze in the relations of the two countries. Doval believes that a young man irrespective of his nationality getting killed on the border is someone's son, brother, or husband. So, why did he should lose his life in the shelling on the Indo-Pak border?

Doval had met Moeed Khan Yusuf, special adviser to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on security matters, in a third country. Doval with a sharp mind also kept open the channels of conversation with Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. These lines of the well-known poet Ahmed Faraz fit Doval’s strategy perfectly, “You have always been waving the dashna (sword). Have you ever tried to embrace your enemy!" Doval considered it necessary to keep in touch with Moeed Yusuf and Bajwa since he knows both are very close to Imran Khan. Only some selected people  - Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, were kept in the know of the talks.

For some strange reasons, soon after the joint statement was issued and it turned out that Doval and Moeed had met, the later made a press statement saying, "no such talks have taken place" and such claims are "baseless".

Similarly, Ajit Doval had played an important role in easing the tension on the border with China. After a violent clash in the Galvan Valley last year, Doval spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a two-hour video conference. Following these talks, the two countries agreed on a total disengagement on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

On the other hand, when Home Minister Amit Shah announced the abrogation of Article 370 in Parliament, Ajit Doval's team had already flown to Srinagar to see the changes are implemented peacefully. He moved around freely mingling with the common people in nooks and corners of Kashmir. In the video shot by media persons and posted on social media, the world saw Kashmiri elders and young men eating biryani with him on the streets of Shopian, Bandipora etc. This was possible due to the tireless efforts of Doval at the security level and Indresh Kumar, a senior pro-Muslim RSS leader, at the social level. While Indreshji spent 12 years trying to win the hearts of Kashmiri Muslims, Doval spent time in Pakistan as a spy in disguise and finally managed to ensure that Kashmir was ruled by the Indian Constitution alone and only that only the India flag furled there. This was crucial for security of the nation. 

Indreshji says the way Doval has integrated scientific technology with the internal and external security apparatus of India and it's something that even the US and Chinese security advisers have not been able to do. This is absolutely true because, in his efficient security and military negotiations, Doval has proved to Jinping that India has experience of 4-5 wars while China does not this kind of experience. In the eventuality of war, India will inflict heavy damage to China. Yes, he told the Chinese leadership that if there is a war, India will also suffer, but China will have to face severe losses as happened at Galwan when 20 Indian soldiers attained martyrdom while they killed 40 Chinese troops. He made Jinping and Company understand that the result of a military engagement with India means a defeat for China. China has got into thinking mode with this.

Pakistan has also realized it. To be honest, Imran Khan, as I understood him in my two interviews, is a well-meaning person; he has his political compulsion of following the military's dictum. Before the election in Pakistan, he had come to India for a cricket match on the invitation of "Aaj Tak" television channel when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It seems Modi told him the formula to win the election in a complex country like Pakistan. He followed his advice and won elections. However, under pressure from ISI, he kept speaking ill of Modi and India. Maybe one day he will pick up the hotline, call Modiji and apologize to him for his behavior!

Senior RSS leader Dr. Krishna Gopal believes that the security of the country is not ensured only by deploying troops on the border; it needs the sacrifice of a few dedicated patriots who, while remaining anonymous keep tabs on the enemies by living amidst them and provide valuable information to their country. Ajit Doval is one such person who spent 40 years of his life in oblivion for the security of the nation and saved the nation from many a terrorist attack. During his tenure as the NSA, he conducted successful surgical strikes in Pakistan.

 Ajit Doval was born in the Garhwali Brahmin family of Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand. The blood of a soldier runs in his veins as his father was an Army man. He received his primary education in Ajmer Military School. In 1967, he received a master's degree with the first position in Economics from Agra University. Thereafter, he got selected in IPS and was allocated Kerala cadre in 1968. Four years later, he joined the Intelligence Bureau in 1972. From this point his career took a new turn; he became a spy and played this role brilliantly. His first success came when he broke 6 out of 7 commanders of the Mizo National Front in Mizoram in 1980 breaking the back of the MNF in Mizoram and establishing peace.

Similarly, he went inside the Golden temple disguised as a rickshaw puller, during Operation Blue Star by the Indian Army, intended to avenge the terrorist attack on the Golden Temple of Amritsar in 1984 while carrying out his responsibilities as a spy. He gave all information of the Khalistanis to the army. This helped the Indian Army in killing the Khalistanis and this operation was successful. In 1999, when the Indian aircraft was hijacked to Kandahar by Pakistani terrorists, Ajit Doval was given the responsibility of protecting the onboard passengers. He was successful in accomplishing this task with his outstanding skill and valor and he saved planes from getting hijacked nine times in the same manner.

Ajit Doval's specialty is that he sneaks into the enemy's house and collects information by staying with them. This is evident by his stay in Pakistan for 7 years in disguise as a Muslim working for the Indian intelligence. In 2015, he entered the territory of Maynmar and was involved in an operation in which militants were killed. On the night of 29 September 2016, he as NSA, oversaw the Indian army's successful surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This is the reason why he is called James Bond of India.